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/ 18 February 2007
A reporter and driver from the Sowetan newspaper were on Saturday afternoon held hostage for six hours by a group of people at the school of the embattled Jackie Maarohanye — the principal of the Ithutheng Trust school in Kliptown. Maarohanye handed herself over to the police in October last year for cases including public violence and malicious damage to property.
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/ 18 February 2007
Voters Lesotho cast their ballots eagerly on Saturday in an election that has provided a rare competitive challenge to the party that has ruled for a decade. The Lesotho Congress for Democracy faces a determined onslaught from the All Basutho Congress, led by former communications minister Thomas Thabane.
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/ 18 February 2007
The African National Congress was selling ”face time” with Cabinet ministers and government officials in an effort to raise funds, the Sunday Times reported. The scheme already had 2Â 000 paid-up members and promised businesses knowledge of ”upcoming government decisions”.
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/ 18 February 2007
An astonishing picture of life inside Baghdad’s schools has been revealed by a group of Iraqi teachers who have travelled to the United Kingdom to gain respite from the daily bloodshed they witness. One, Suad Saleem Abdulla, described how she pulled her own children close every morning and said goodbye as if it was the last time she would ever see them.
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/ 18 February 2007
Widespread desertions from Zimbabwe’s army and police are weakening President Robert Mugabe’s security forces as large strikes loom because of the country’s deepening economic collapse. With inflation now at a global record of 1Â 600 per cent, the <i>Observer</i> can reveal that soldiers and police officers who cannot feed their families are leaving their posts in large numbers.
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/ 18 February 2007
In Baquba, in the Iraqi province of Diyala, unpleasant questions get answered very quickly. There is a startling pop, and then: ‘Who fired that shot? Did you fire that shot?’ One of the United States soldiers of Bravo Company of the 1/12 Cavalry is shouting at the accompanying Iraqi army troops, hoping against hope, it appears, that a weapon has been accidentally discharged.
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/ 17 February 2007
The top hat is extinct, for better or worse. The man who wears one may treasure its sleek lines or feel emboldened by a particularly lecherous tilt of its brim, but history and passing carnivals have conspired against him. Today’s fop, stepping out in hat and tails, is in truth just a large inverted magic trick, a bipedal rabbit kicking in the footlights of modernity as he dangles by his ears from that ana-chronistic bowl.
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/ 17 February 2007
Wing Cameron Shepherd scored 25 points to inspire the Western Force to a 30-27 Super 14 victory over the Bulls in Pretoria on Friday. Shepherd scored two tries, three conversions and three penalties and prop Gareth Hardy ran in the Perth-based team’s third try at Loftus Versfeld.
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/ 17 February 2007
Under the blazing desert sun, the charred remains of the village of Bandala in eastern Chad lie scattered. Once home to hundreds of people, Bandala is now nothing more than scorched earth and broken pots, littered unceremoniously across the sand.
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/ 17 February 2007
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has accused Britain of refusing dialogue with its former colony, and said he expects ties to improve after Tony Blair steps down in 2007. ”The Blair government is a queer government, and Blair behaves like a headmaster, old fashioned, who dictates that things must be done his way,” said Mugabe.